The Creature in the Emerald Forest
by AwnK
Summary: Something is in the Emerald Forest that surrounds Beacon Academy, but it is much more than Creatures of Grimm.


**I'm not one for creating OC for my stories; the only focus on OC will be this chapter. After that, it's going to focus on the Team we love so much. So, please stick through this for the set-up of the story.**

The Third Year students, soon to be the Fourth-Year senior class, of Beacon Academy were holding true to the long tradition that was passed down to them from generation to generation. A tradition that many considered, including the opinions of the professors that taught the students, a social gathering of the entire class to strengthen bonds, or create new ones, for their last year of school. It, of course, was The Bonfire in Emerald Forest event, in which many of Vytal's bravest and brightest would gather together before the beginning of their final year to drink and be merry. This year was no exception, with technology growing exponentially each year, the party seemed to be getting more and grander as technology made the event much more extravagant than it had in years past. Although, throughout the years, there had always been on constant.

Alcohol.

This tradition started back when the first class of Beacon ever started it. Many believe that it was one of the only ways to fight off the depression of the Grimm threat, ever present in the forest and even attack human settlers in the territory they tried to set aside. Others will claim that they started in by burning the forests, in hopes that the burning forests would kill more Grimm than they were capable of killing in the past. There are even a few who believed that fire was supposed to represent the burning of Faunus when they started to appear in the main populous; in order to cleanse the land of "tainted blood". Some just want to believe that they were simply reckless students, who wanted to do something crazy before the final moments of their last year of Beacon and then their lives become all serious work. Despite what the reason for the event may have been, or what the students ' beliefs may be, all of Beacon's soon-to-be seniors were enjoying themselves before they were thrust back into their studies and training.

All the students were caught up in celebrating with their friends, one team in particular, known for their social skills and partying, were leading the way. Team JACL (jackal) was making sure that everybody was drinking and enjoying their night. While Team JACL may have not been the most successful, nor the most important team to ever come through the halls of Beacon Academy, they were surely loved by most everybody in their class. Especially their leader, Amy Thyst, who tirelessly made sure that everybody had a smile on their face, whether it be on her team, or a random first-year student who had trouble navigating the difficult hallways of the large academy. Amy was just that type of person, while she may not get the most exciting of jobs in the future, the community that she would eventually try to settle down and help would probably prosper from her just being there.

Amy had been drunkenly wandering around the party in search of the rest of her teammates, who on her orders, have been pouring out shots, handing out drinks, or playing wingman (or winglady) for any of the single students that they may have stumbled upon. She wanted to toast to her team, make a full-hearted, alcohol-fueled speech to those who have been so close to her. She pushed the light purple hair, which had gotten messed up from too much dancing, out of her ice blue eyes as she searched the crowd for any telltale signs of her teammates. She jumped for joy when she first saw sign of one of her teammates. Amy spotted her partner's white ears poking above the rest of the crowd. Many have questioned why Amy, a human, would be so happy to be paired to Lily, a hare-faunus. But Amy knew, it was never what the person looked like, it was the quality of the person, and Amy had gotten all of her class to see the greatness in Lily

Amy stumbled over to Lily, with each step closer; Amy could start to make out the pink tipped ears that surely identified the hare-faunus. Amy carefully extracted the faunus from the dance floor, where a one of their fellow students was shamelessly making moves on Lily. Lily was startled to be pulled out of there, quickly assuming a battle position, reflex of too much training taking over, Lily slightly relaxed when she saw her savior from the awkward situation she was just in. Amy giggled "woah there killer, maybe you should save it for school?"

Lily starched the back of her head, her silky white hair with pink tip becoming ruffled as she did so, "you should be careful! I almost got ya!" Lily yelled. "But seriously, thanks for pulling me out of there. Ash just isn't able to take a hint it seems."

"Well, he has been drinking, we all have, maybe it makes him a little more oblivious." Amy smiled a drunken grin, "maybe you should give him a shot, you know. You don't see many faunus-human couples around much. It'd be cute!"

"No thanks, you know I like somebody else…" Lily's smile faltered from her face for a second, unpleased that Amy was trying to send her off to some random person. "So… why did you pull me out here?" changing the subject, hoping Amy was drunk enough to bite the sudden change.

Amy's face went blank for a second, seemingly trying to remember why she had come over there in the first place. Her face turned to one of pure joy as soon as she remembered, "Oh Yeah! Have you seen Cordo or Jade? I want to make a Team Jackal toast!"

"Hmmm" Lily let out, scratching her chin, as if that were the key to her sobriety. "We were running low on alcohol and Cordo volunteered to go get some more, and of course, where Cordo goes, Jade is sure to follow. They should just get married and leave out all the soap opera drama," Lily stated matter-of-factly. Lily was truly a good person; she just thought she knew what was best for everybody. "Oh wait, here they come now!" 

As if on cue, a giant walked from the path that leads to and from Beacon. In one hand, he was carrying three bags of hard liquor and the other hand was encompassed by an entire keg, with no help from the girl that trail behind. The girl was, by far, the shortest girl in the entire class with her stature barely reaching five feet, being dwarfed by a foot and a half to the man she was following. Jade simply carried two bags of canned beers, trying to hide the disappointment of nothing happening while they making their beer run behind her short green hair.

Amy ran over to the two approaching the party. "Hey guys! Put that stuff down over there," Amy commanded, pointing to a table which had been completely vacant except for the stray bottles scattered about. "Oh, but well need this!" she exclaimed, walking over to Cordo, snagging a bottle of vodka from one of the bags in his hand. "Once you put that stuff down, follow me. I wanna make a Team Jackal toast!"

Cordo and Jade simply complied; they grabbed the shot glasses that were left on the table and followed the energetic, drunk leader as she pulled them in a more intimate, secluded section. Hidden from the rest of the party, Amy deemed that this would be a suitable location for the heart-filled speech that she had been preparing in her drunken mind for the greater part of an hour. She poured out four shots, one for each teammate.

"I have gathered you hear today to make a toast to Team Jackal," she stated as she was handing out the shots to her team, scanning their faces to make sure they were still paying attention to her. "As you know, this is the beginning to the end. Our final year at Beacon. We may not be the best team, but we are still here, and I think that says a lot. I don't know about you, but I definitely think that I wouldn't have made this far without any of you.

"Lily, you're my best friend, you listen to all of my complaints and all my worries and make them feel better. Cordo, I think you literally saved my life more times than I can count, I know you're just gonna end up denying it, but I really owe you. And Jade, I know we started on shaky ground from day one, but you have helped me so much with my studies, I would have failed out long ago if it wasn't for you. So, thank you. Thank you all. To the last year of our childhood!" Amy yelled, holding her glass to the center of the group, the rest of the group following her example. As soon as their glasses made contact, it found its way to the respective owners' lips, alcohol slipping down their throats, burning everything on the way down. "Now go have some fun! That's an order!"

Jade's eyes beamed, as new hope crossed into them. "Come on Cordo, we're going to dance!" The slightest bit of argument appeared evident on his face, but he knew that any argument he could think of would be in vain. Jade and Cordo disappeared in the tree line, as the short girl dragged the giant towards the rest of the party. Lily, was trying to suppress giggles, she was always surprised at how strong the little girl was. Lily looked back at Amy, who was cleaning up the mess that left behind.

"Do you need any help cleaning up?" Lily asked.

"No, I'm good on my own," Amy said, dismissing the offered help. "Why don't you go ahead and go to the dance floor, I'll meet you there."

Lily's heart skipped a beat, as she tried to hide her smile and blush behind her hair. "O-okay, I'm h-holding to a dance." Lily ran off, back to the party, the elation of Amy asking her to dance motivating her to move even faster. Soon enough, Amy was the only one left at the spot where her team and best friends had just taken drinks. She scanned the forest, seeing something out of the ordinary, a light glowing orange out in the distance, Amy surmised just a straggler who stepped out for a cigarette break.

'This won't do… I'll give whoever it is company till they rejoin the party,' Amy worked through in her mind, as she started to walk towards the dark figure in the shadows. "Hey!" Amy yelled, catching the attention of the figure. "I'm sure they won't mind if you smoke over there at the party, people are pretty drunk and probably won't even notice you smoking."

"I'm fine here," the figure said, "I don't really get along with others well." It was clearly a male, his voice was gruff, and almost sounded like a whisper in your ear, yet was clearly audible from the distance from the five feet that spaced the two. All that could be seen from the shadows were two cat-like eyes with crimson irises that seemed to scare Amy, yet only draw her closer. There was a certain lust locked in the eyes, one that Amy had definitely seen before.

"Umm, would you like something to drink?" Amy offered, now finding herself a mere half of a foot away from the figure, eyes enveloping all of her movements.

"Yes," replied the figure, flashing an impossibly large grin. "I would."

That's all Amy heard before she was enveloped in blackness and her entire world was pain. The sounds of her screams were drown out by the music of the event next door.


End file.
